7 – Naknakago is a parachute, and Nakamago is a thug. I’ll wipe them all out. From now on, it’s going to be fun.
1.
Before entering the hot tub, it was one of the basic manners to wash your body first when using the sauna.
“No, that punk suddenly acted up. So, I grabbed a bottle of soju and smacked him on the head.”
“hahahahaha! I saw it too, hyung! Isn’t it almost like a slapstick masterclass, turning things upside down?”
“Hyung is still hyung. Where in the world do you find someone breaking people’s heads since lunchtime?”
“Didn’t you hear me? That guy started it, right?”
“hehehehe… Well, then it’s self-defense, I guess.”
Even in a bathhouse where even the slightest noise echoed loudly, not making a big fuss was basic etiquette.
“What’s up? Why the serious face? Did I not give that no-good guy a proper lesson in manners?”
“But still, hyung, these days you should be careful from above. Breaking people’s heads in broad daylight…”
Snap!
“Say it again. What?”
“Oh, no, nothing.”
And, quite naturally, committing violence in a public place without a care was not just a breach of manners but a violation of the law.
What on earth is going on?
As they mentioned, it wasn’t crowded in the bathhouse during broad daylight, except for a few elderly people besides me and Choi Cheol-hoon.
But no matter what, blatantly doing such outrageous things in the presence of others was plainly wrong.
In the past, I would have immediately forced them to sing the national anthem in the tub, up to the fourth verse… but I’m no longer a thug. Just wash up and leave; that’s all.
Although it was uncomfortable to see guys with the appearance and tattoos of thugs acting like delinquents, avoiding them was now a well-known solution.
Actually, the thugs in front of us hadn’t picked a fight with me or Choi Cheol-hoon, and until now, they had just been chatting among themselves.
Even if a slap was thrown, we hadn’t suffered direct harm. At most, it was just some noisy commotion.
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It’s probably best to just let it go.
Yeah, I should become an idol manager. If I’ve made up my mind to become the world’s best idol manager, then I shouldn’t pay attention to these trivial things one by one…
“Ah…”
That’s right. An idol manager.
Not just any idol manager, but the world’s best idol manager!!!
I, I definitely wanted to become an idol manager… and not just any idol manager, but a sparkling girl group manager… What on earth am I doing now?
But right now, there were no idols around me, only middle-aged men.
“But I don’t want to hit people… Do I really have to use this damn baton? Huh?”
“I-I’m sorry.”
The tattooed gangster middle-aged man that I had seen so much of in the prison.
“Gangster bastards.”
The dull-looking middle-aged man who seemed to be ready to run towards those gangster men with hostility burning in his eyes.
“…”
“…”
And even the other elderly men who were quietly bathing, as if they were frozen in the unsettling atmosphere.
Everyone around me was nothing but middle-aged or elderly men.
And the most terrible thing is that even if I were to leave the sauna and return to the agency, the fact remains that there are only middle-aged men around me.
Of course, it has only been a day since I was released from prison, and I only have a meager salary at the agency, but there were some female staff members.
However, just because of that, the situation of having only middle-aged men around me doesn’t change, and there is no way that someone who just stays still can become an idol.
This incredibly dreadful fact made me unable to bear it.
“What the hell am I doing right now? Why am I here with this boring-looking weirdo in a sauna?”
“Uh, uh? Wh-what did you just say…”
I didn’t pay any attention to the flustered voice coming from beside me.
“Ugh, what the hell… Hey, you there…”
I couldn’t hear a single threatening word from the gangster kid across from me.
In my mind, there was only the occupation of an ‘idol manager,’ and everything else was meaningless.
Thud!
I stood up from my seat and stepped out of the bath, and instantly, the entire place fell silent as if a mouse had died.
The tattooed guys sitting across from me, the perfectly sculpted bodies like Choi Cheol-hoon sitting next to me, none of them mattered as everyone in the bathhouse saw my body and were petrified.
But it was a luxury to pay attention to each and every reaction, to be flustered or embarrassed.
“Choi Cheol-hoon, come with me.”
“Uh, uh? But I haven’t even gone into the cold bath yet.”
“If you don’t want to get beaten up, come with me!”
“Y-yeah!”
And so, I grabbed Choi Cheol-hoon and ran out of the bathhouse as if we were being chased.
※※※
“Hey, were those gangsters really that scary? How long has it been since they came in that you’re so worked up…”
With a voice filled with both regret and relief, Choi Cheol-hoon cautiously asked me.
But his question was not worth answering, so I didn’t respond.
“If we go upstairs, the boss will be there, right?”
“Oh, um. You said earlier that you didn’t have any plans to go out today, so there probably is something going on… But why did you naturally bring it up?”
“We’re the same age. You brought it up first.”
“Well, yeah, that’s true.”
I lifted my head and looked up at the building of Jungdopa, where President Baekgun is now located, breaking Choi Cheol-hoon’s weak argument with a single blow.
The top floor, where my brother’s office used to be, is now occupied by President Baekgun of Barungil Enter.
Whether it’s then or now, nothing has changed about being at the top.
“Then I’ll go. Do it on your own.”
“Huh? Wait, the president’s office all of a sudden?”
“Ugh.”
“No, even if you came in with a parachute, you shouldn’t live like that…”
Zi-iiing. Clunk.
Choi Cheol-hoon’s unnecessary voice was cut off at the same time as the elevator door closed.
You shouldn’t live like that. Why did I spend seven years in prison?
Actually, the reason I spent a long time in the prison for seven years was because I lived too much according to how it appeared.
As I did gangster-like things as they appeared, my influence naturally became too great to live as it appeared.
In order for the world to forget about me, I had no choice but to endure and wait for seven years, which was definitely not a short time.
“But that actually became poison.”
No matter how afraid I was of my name being spread in the world, seven years of endurance made me accustomed to patience, waiting, and conforming to the flow of the world.
As evidence, since my release, haven’t I lived not as others tell me or lead me?
If it were in the past, I would have accepted whatever anyone said as it appeared.
“I’ll live for tomorrow,” saying that is good, and it’s good to vow not to live as a thug.
But living as others dictate, living as others wield, is definitely not good. Instead, it’s better to live like a thug than to live that way.
To envision tomorrow is to pioneer one’s own future.
Even during my thug days when I took living for granted, now I couldn’t live such a mundane life.
The prison medication is making me dizzy.
I used to scoff when I heard the term “rehabilitation facility for prisons,” but seven years is a long time, and during that long period, I underwent the prison’s rehabilitation like a rock being pierced by droplets of water.
But now it’s different. I won’t be swayed anymore. The boredom ends. From now on, it’ll only be fun because I’ll live the way I want.
As evidence,
“Boss, come out!”
I immediately burst into the room where the person who would forcibly grab my life was present, just like in the days when I was a thug.
Knock. Click.
Of course, after that, I knocked and lowered the doorknob and politely entered.
In the past, I would have kicked the door open, whether it was locked or not. But no. I’m not a thug anymore.
Inside the opened door, there was a man sitting with the backrest and back of the chair completely stuck together, looking surprised at how surprised he was.
“W-what, what is it? Wh-who… uh?”
The man sitting behind the nameplate of Barun Entertainment’s CEO Jung Baro was naturally an ajusshi.
Mr. CEO… No, Mr. Jung Baro, or rather, the CEO, momentarily stiffened his body as if a debt collector had suddenly appeared, but soon recognized my face and widened his eyes.
“Kang Jinhyuk…?”
“You know my face, right? Anyway, since it’s our first meeting, let’s exchange greetings.”
I approached the CEO, who was just surprised and couldn’t even get angry, and extended my hand.
“Nice to meet you. I’m Kang Jin-hyuk. I just started today.”
Pausing for a moment, he shook hands with the CEO before continuing with determination in every word.
“I’m here to be an idol manager.”
Seven years and 19 hours.
In a time that could be long or short, I could exist solely as myself.